Contents

Jack Bauer tells Habib Marwan whatever he is planning next will fail. Marwan tells Jack about deaths from his previous attacks and how the country will be afraid to let its leaders appear in public.

Rafique tells Habib Marwan that CTU will be alerted about a police report of a military pilot's missing family. Marwan wants CTU to be distracted to realize its significance. Marwan calls CTU wanting to exchange Jack Bauer for Behrooz Araz.

The exchange between Jack Bauer and Behrooz Araz takes place. Behrooz asks about his mother, and Jack says he doesn't know. The sniper who was supposed to shoot Jack is killed, and Curtis Manning reassures Jack that Behrooz is double-tracked.

Jack tells Tony Almeida that he managed to short-circuit some phone lines where he was being held. Tony uses that information to find where that was.

Mitch Anderson calls Marwan telling him about the jet being grounded. Anderson impersonates a mechanic reporting a false alarm about the jet. The stealth jet is then cleared for takeoff.

Tony Almeida briefs President John Keeler that CTU put multiple trackers on Behrooz, but they were both found. He also informs the president that Jack was able to short-circuit some phone lines and that they found where Marwan was holding him. Keeler tells Michelle Dessler and Tony that he is planning to land in Los Angeles to address the nation before the 11:00 news, despite Tony's objections that he would be safer in the air.

Jack Bauer has just arrived at the warehouse where he was being held. He calls CTU, and tells the person who picks up that his team will be ready in five minutes. He recognizes the voice as that of Chloe O'Brian, who tells him that Michelle brought her back in. Jack asks about Paul Raines, and Chloe tells him that he just got out of surgery. Jack asks to speak with Audrey.

Audrey Raines picks up her phone, and Chloe transfers the call to Jack. Jack asks how Paul is doing, and Audrey replies that they just finished operating and that they think Paul will make it. They agree that they need to talk about how Jack interrogated Paul.

Michelle informs Bill Buchanan that Jack is about ready to move on Marwan. Chloe tells them that there are eight hostiles in the building. They have no evidence that Marwan is there now, but he was there at most 25 minutes ago.

Marwan is on the phone with Nicole, who is searching Anderson's apartment for a hard drive that was hidden by Aziz. If the Americans find the hard drive, it will jeopardize the next stage of their plan.

10:06:12

The airplane that Mitch Anderson is flying is taking off. He receives a call from Marwan, who asks him where the hard drive is. Anderson doesn't know anything about it. Marwan notices the short-circuited phone lines, hangs up, and grabs what looks like a remote control for a bomb.

Jack and his team begins to move into the warehouse. The terrorists begin to delete their files as Marwan starts to escape. A shootout ensues between Marwan's and Jack's men. All of the terrorists are killed, but Marwan is not among the bodies. Jack tries to access the files on one of the computers, but he can't stop it from deleting its files.

10:10:56

Marwan has gotten out of the building and presses the remote detonator button. Jack notices and tells his people to get out.

Michelle, running point from CTU, hears the explosion. Jack tells her what happened, and informs her that he's going off comm in order to find Marwan. Jack finds a terrorist who hasn't quite died, and tries to interrogate him. The terrorist tells him that he can't stop what's going to happen, and that "it" is going to happen within the hour.

The doctor comes out of the OR to tell Audrey that Paul is in recovery. He is stable, but one of the bullets did some damage to his spine. Right now, he is paralyzed from the waist down. It could be weeks or months before they know whether he will ever walk again. Audrey goes into Paul's room, who tells her that he will walk again. Audrey tells him that taking Jack's bullet was very brave. Paul jokes that he was just pushing Jack out of the way.

Tony tells Michelle that LAPD is having no luck finding Marwan. Michelle says that since something is going to happen within the hour, they need to find him. Bill is irate that Marwan evidently slipped through the perimeter.

10:20:05

Jack calls CTU and tells them that he found something. Some documents that Marwan had forged survived the explosion. He asks Michelle to cross-reference all of the names and faces that he found with the watch-list.

Bill apologizes to Michelle for snapping a moment ago, and they exchange a meaningful look, which Tony notices. He asks Chloe how long Bill has been at Division. She says she doesn't know, but guesses six months based on how long it took to fill Ryan Chappelle's position. He was at Seattle before that, which also happens to be where Michelle was posted while Tony was in jail.

CTU identifies one of the photos as Mitch Anderson, ex-military, arrested for drug possession, served time in military prison, and dishonorably discharged four years ago. Since then, he has served as a mercenary around the world, and he moved to America one year ago. The FBI has just sent an agent to check out his apartment, and Jack asks Michelle for the address so that he can search it too.

10:22:04

Drake arrives at Anderson's apartment, only to be shot and killed by Nicole. Nicole then poses as Agent Drake on the phone when Jack Bauer calls. Thinking that she is Agent Drake, Jack tells her about Marwan's threat and how Anderson might be involved, and that he will be there in ten minutes. Nicole tells him that she'll be there.

Marwan waits outside the warehouse as a van pulls up. He gets in and the van pulls away. He calls another terrorist on the phone, and informs him that Anderson is in the air. The other terrorists people are in place and ready to deploy.

Aboard Air Force One, the President disapproves of the speech that his staff wrote for him, criticizing the tone. He asks Robert Franklin to step out, and send his son in. When Kevin comes in, the President asks for his help writing a speech, saying that Kevin is the most decent person he knows. President Keeler asks his son what he wants to hear the President say when he addresses the country this evening. Kevin replies, "The truth". The truth, as Keeler points out, is incredibly dismal, and father and son agree to work out together what he is going to say.

Jack Bauer and Agent Hart arrive at Mitch Anderson's apartment. Nicole appears suddenly with a gun, which she points at Jack until Agent Hart shows her his credentials. Nicole tells Hart and Jack about the hard drive, and they agree to help her search the apartment for it.

In the car, Marwan receives a phone call from Anderson, who tells him that he is almost in position. Anderson is concerned about his cover. Marwan reassures him that the Americans will believe that he is dead, because once this is done, the entire world will be looking for him.

At CTU, Chloe O'Brian speaks to Ruben Weiss on the phone and agrees to tell "him" something. She tells Edgar that it will be impossible to recover his mother's body for a few weeks, maybe months. They will have to have the funeral without the body. Edgar cannot deal with it right now, and goes back to work. Chloe offers to take some of Edgar's work load so that he can think about his mother, but he refuses.

Tony asks Michelle when she was going to tell him about Bill. She replies that she wasn't, because it's not his business. Tony asks if she slept with him at Seattle, while they were still married. She says no.

Chloe notices that Edgar made a mistake on a disk that he is about to hand to Michelle. She intercepts the disk, saying it was her mistake, not Edgar's. Edgar doesn't understand why Chloe took the blame, and she says that she thought he had a lot on his mind.

10:42:16

Nicole continues to search for the hard drive while Jack watches her suspiciously. Agent Hart informs Jack that nobody has seen Mitch Anderson today. Jack finds a badge that was made three months ago. He thinks that Anderson is posing as military. Jack calls CTU and tells them what he found. Nicole fakes a call to the FBI. Hart tries to plug in his laptop to scan the badge, and notices something odd about the outlet. When he opens it up, he finds Aziz's hard drive. Nicole congratulates him before stabbing him in the neck. Jack notices the body and Nicole shoots at him. Jack fires back and shoots her through the pillar. She falls dead. He takes the hard drive from her body and plugs it into Hart's laptop, but all of the files are locked.

10:46:47

Jack calls CTU and gets Edgar. He tells him to tell Tony and Michelle that Agent Drake was actually an impostor working for Marwan and that she killed Agent Hart. He asks for help getting data off of the hard drive. Edgar gives him the passcode and Jack is able to view the files, which are a flight simulator and full schematics of an F-117A stealth fighter.

Jack calls Tony at CTU, who tells him that a stealth fighter took off about forty minutes ago, and that all attempts to reach the pilot have failed. Jack tells Tony to find a list of all possible targets, and Michelle points out that Air Force One is scheduled to land in LA. They come to the conclusion that President Keeler is the target. Jack tells Tony to send him Anderson's bio and the recall frequency for the squad that that plane is part of.

Aboard Air Force One, Keeler approves the speech that he and his son have finished writing. He receives a call from Michelle, who informs him that he is the most likely target of the stealth fighter. She tells him the bleak detailsthat Anderson will very likely find him, and that his escort fighters may not see Anderson's plane until it is too late. Keeler hangs up and asks for the Vice President, Charles Logan, on the phone.

Tony sends Jack the biographical information on Mitch Anderson. Chloe sees Air Force One on the radar, and says that it is due to land in nine minutes. She also says that there is no sign of the stealth fighter, but that doesn't mean that it's not there. Tony puts Jack in communication with the stealth fighter.

Jack begs Anderson to reconsider what he is trying to do, telling him that it will be possible to work things out if he lands at the Edwards Air Force Base. He brings up Anderson's Air Force record, saying that killing President Keeler is not how he wants to be remembered.

Aboard Air Force One, President Keeler is talking to Vice President Logan. He tells him to stay the course if Air Force One is shot down. Logan says it won't come to that, but then agrees not to waste time if the worst should happen.

10:58:02

Robert tells President Keeler that Jack is in communication with Anderson. Keeler says to patch it through.

Jack offers Anderson an opportunity to speak to his sister Alicia, but Mitch responds by turning off his plane's radio. Jack is alarmed when he hears static, and Chloe informs him that there's likely nothing they can do at this point.

Aboard Air Force One, Kevin and John share a tender moment when Kevin tells his father that he's scared and they hug.

Anderson fires a missile.

Chloe, at her computer, sees the missile enter her radar screen, heading straight towards Air Force One. The plane image on the radar screen disappears. Jack shouts "Has Air Force One been hit?", to which Chloe replies, "Escort pilots report...Air Force One has suffered an indirect hit from an air-to-air missile. Pieces are falling to the ground over the desert..."

President Keeler: What do you want to hear the President say when he addresses you tonight?

Kevin: The truth.

President Keeler: We've been attacked by terrorists. Americans are dead. The man responsible is still at large, and we are by no means certain that we can catch him before he strikes again. What happened earlier may be nothing compared to what happens next. That's the truth Kevin, is that what you think I should say?

Kevin: I don't know.

President Keeler: Neither do I.

Anderson: Marwan, they have to believe I'm dead.

Marwan: They will. My people have taken care of this.

Anderson: They better, because once this is done, the whole world is gonna be looking for me.

Tony: When were you gonna tell me about Bill?

Michelle: Never. Because it's none of your business.

Chloe O'Brian: We're being beaten by our own technology.

Kevin Keeler: Dad, I'm scared...

Jack Bauer: Was Air Force One just hit? ...Was Air Force One just hit?!

Chloe O'Brian: Escort pilots report... Air Force One has suffered an indirect hit from an air to air missile. Pieces are falling to the ground over the desert...

On the provided commentary for this episode, director Bryan Spicer reveals that Kiefer, Cameron Bancroft (who played Castle) and the rest of the SWAT team players decided they were up to the challenge and wished to do their own stunts. Kiefer's suit partially caught fire during the filming of the chaotic factory explosion but he was reportedly fine and everyone succeeded at bringing authenticity to their stunts in one whole take.

Keeler's fate was left ambiguous; this was because Fox mandated 24's writers to not depict the outright successful assassination of a sitting president (though this mandate didn't apply to former presidents nor did it apply to foreign ones).

Anderson's fate was also left unknown; he is never seen or directly mentioned after this episode. Dialogue implies he had a cover planned for him, but whether or not he was killed by the returned fire is unknown.

Gregory Itzin appears as Charles Logan for the first time in this episode. He will later become a pivotal character in the series.

This is one of only two episodes this season in which first-billed actor Roger Cross does not appear.

To date this is the only episode besides the following one to feature just one other actor in the main cast besides Kiefer Sutherland (Kim Raver).

The doctor talks about "one of the bullets", although Paul was only shot with one bullet. Moments later Audrey, in a conversation with Paul, says in reference to Jack, "He knows that bullet was meant for him." This suggests he was only shot once but in the episode Day 4: 8:00pm-9:00pm the doctor says Paul Raines was shot in the stomach and in the chest suggesting he was shot twice.

Nicole kills Agent Hart and leaves his body on the floor as she goes looking for Jack, but in the next shot the body is visible, it lies in a different position.

When Jack shoots Nicole, there is blood by the bullet holes in the pillar as she slides to the floor, but when Jack descends the stairs seconds later, the blood is gone.

At first Chloe mentions that there are four escort fighters protecting Air Force One, confirmed by Anderson's radar screen. But Chloe's screen reveals six planes (including Air Force One) and later Anderson's radar suddenly shows six contacts as well.

The F-117 that Anderson is piloting is a bomber, and has no air to air armaments.

This episode marks the final appearance of Geoff Pierson as President John Keeler.